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Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. is aiming for a 20 percent per vehicle cut in its operational CO2 emissions by 2016, compared with 2005, under a six-year environmental plan unveiled today.

The Nissan Green Program 2016, the company’s third environmental mid-term plan, also calls for the company to become the world’s number one seller of zero-emission vehicles, selling 1.5 million such vehicles across the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

On behalf of the alliance, Nissan says it will lead the development of an all-new fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), together with strategic partner Daimler.

Nissan says it will meet the carbon goal by widening the scope of measurable objectives, including logistics, offices, and dealerships, in addition to production sites. It also says it will introduce renewable energy sources for manufacturing and related facilities.

By 2016, the company is also targeting a 35 percent fuel economy improvement for Nissan vehicles sold in Japan, China, Europe and the United States. It says it will accomplish this through vehicles such as new front-wheel drive and plug-in hybrid models, and introduction of a next-generation continuously variable transmission (CVT). Nissan plans to reach 20 million units of cumulative CVT production.

And it is targeting a 25 percent rise in its usage rate of recycled materials by 2016. Nissan says it will be the first in the auto industry to set a recycling objective and adopt a comprehensive closed-loop recycling scheme, including steel, aluminum and plastic.

In other alternative fuel news, Siemens and BMW have developed a prototype for a recharging system that uses one socket for either DC or AC current. The partners say that until now, electric vehicles that can be charged with either AC or DC needed to use two different sockets.

And recycling company UBCR has announced that it will convert its entire fleet of 16 heavy duty vehicles to compressed natural gas, in a deal with Ryder Systems. The deal also includes upgrades to two maintenance facilities, and the construction of two new natural gas fueling stations.

The project is partially funded by a grant through the Michigan Clean Cities Coalition and Ryder estimates that when complete, the initiative will displace 380,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually.